Petition To:
Rt Hon. John Key - Prime Minister
Hon. Gerry Brownlee - Minister Responsible for: Canterbury Earthquake, EQC, Southern Response
Hon. Nick Smith - Minister Responsible for Building and Housing
Hon. Bill English - Minister Responsible for: Housing New Zealand, Southern Response, Finance

We invite New Zealanders interested in the standard of repair work carried out by EQC and Private Insurers to add their electronic signature in support of an Official Information Act (OIA) Request in respect of a Survey of Canterbury Earthquake Repairs commissioned by Cabinet.

BACKGROUND

Recently the Department of Building and Housing (now part of MBIE) issued a report showing 13 out of 14 Christchurch earthquake repairs they inspected did not comply with the Building Code.

In response, on 18 February 2015, the Minister of Earthquake Recovery, Hon Gerry Brownlee, and Minister for Building and Housing, Hon Nick Smith, ordered a new larger survey.

The Ministers have decided that a survey of about 100 randomly selected homes would be conducted by independent experts starting at the end of March 2015. The link below takes you to details relating to the Survey announcement:

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/survey-canterbury-repairs-underway

INDEPENDENCE IS PARAMOUNT

Experience has taught Canterbury Residents the importance of getting truly independent experts to provide opinions, and ensuring those experts are given clear instructions and accurate information. We want to understand more about this survey so we can better interpret the results. We want to understand if this Survey is truly independent.

If you have concerns about the repair standards we invite you to show your support of an Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request for specific information aimed at satisfying residents of the independence, size and scope of this new survey.

DETAILS OF THE OIA

The submission date of the OIA is 31 March 2015.

The full text of the Request and Appendix Tables to the Request are available for download here:

OIA REQUEST (you will need Microsoft Word to open ) - Read HTML Version Below

APPENDIX TO OIA REQUEST (you will need Microsoft Excel to open)

Thank you.
Canterbury Claimants

Music by BrotherHood

APPENDIX ONE : OIA LETTER SENT TO MINISTERS 31 MARCH 2015

To:

Rt Hon. J Key - Prime Minister

Hon. G Brownlee - Minister Responsible for:
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery
Earthquake Commission
Southern Response Earthquake Services Limited
Hon. N Smith - Minister Responsible for:
Building and Housing
Hon. B English - Minister Responsible for:
Housing New Zealand
Southern Response Earthquake Services Limited
Finance

Via email: J.Key@parlianment.govt.nz
G.Brownlee@parliament.govt.nz
N.Smith@parliament.govt.nz
B.English@parliament.govt.nz

8 March 2015

Dear Prime Minister and Ministers,

On 18 February 2015 Ministers Responsible for Building and Housing and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery released the following statement:

“Gerry Brownlee, Nick Smith

18 February, 2015

Survey of Canterbury repairs underway

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith today welcomed the commencement of an independent survey of the completed residential repairs in Christchurch.

“The Earthquake Commission’s Canterbury Home Repair Programme is nearing an end and good progress is being made by the private insurers. It makes sense for the Government to have an overview of the standard of the repairs that have been carried out, and there is now a sufficient number of completed repairs to allow an appropriate sample of homes to be inspected,” Mr Brownlee says.

As at 13 February, the Earthquake Commission has repaired 93 per cent of the 68,652 homes in the Canterbury Home Repair Programme, while private insurers have settled 57 per cent of claims.
The survey, which is being managed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), will be carried out by a team of independent technical experts and involve about 100 homes. It will focus on new building work that has been exempted from requiring a building consent, and will consider whether this exempted work has been finished to a standard compliant with the Building Code.

“The Government wants to ensure that homes are safe and durable, and as such, the survey team will concentrate on structural work, rather than reviewing cosmetic repairs such as the quality of the finished paint job. It will give reassurance to Cantabrians that the rebuild is a quality one,” Dr Smith says.

Properties will be randomly selected from information provided by the Earthquake Commission, Housing New Zealand Corporation and other insurance companies and their Project Management Offices, which have undertaken a significant proportion of repair work exempted from a building consent. The inspections will also include a small sample of homes repaired after opting out of the Canterbury Home Repair Programme.

Letters to randomly selected homeowners seeking their participation are being sent this week with inspections due to begin by the end of March. Results are expected to be available from July.”

Ref: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/survey-canterbury-repairs-underway

A group of Canterbury residents ( see signatures on petition page at Change.org here ) wish to clarify the sample, scope and instruction for the survey.

Hence under the Official Information Act 1982, we kindly request the following specific official information:

1) You state in your release that the sample properties “will be randomly selected from information provided by the Earthquake Commission (EQC), Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) and other insurance companies”. To clarify this statement can you confirm whether:

a. all repaired properties [total population for sampling] were supplied to MBIE/independent experts by EQC, HNZC, and Private Insurers; or

b. a “randomly selected sample” was self-selected by EQC, HNZ and Private Insurers then supplied to MBIE?

2) If your answer to (1) is (b) then please could you supply the instruction for sample selection from MBIE/independent experts to EQC, HNZ and Private Insurers, and please complete the “(ii) Sample Chosen” template below (a spreadsheet copy is also attached as an appendix to this letter for your convenience).

3) If your answer to (1) is (b) how have you ensured that the sample provided has not been skewed/unduly influenced by EQC, HNZ or Private Insurer?

4) If your answer to (1) is (a) then please could you complete both “(i) Total Population Provided to MBIE /Independent Experts from EQC, HNZC and Private Insurers” and “(ii) Sample Chosen” templates below (a spreadsheet copy is also attached as an appendix to this letter for your convenience).

5) If your answer to (1) is (a) what process are you using to “randomly select” properties from the population?

6) Please could you explain how the stratified sample chosen is statistically significant to the stratified total population?

7) Please can you confirm how many properties in the sample had structural works completed that cost (ex GST):

a. $0 – $20,000
b. $20,001 - $50,000
c. $50,001 - $100,000
8) $100,001 +

9) Please can you provide your definition of “structural work” for the purposes of your survey

10) Please can you confirm whether the Guidance: Repairing and rebuilding houses affected by the Canterbury earthquakes – Dated December 2012 Version 3 Parts A through E are all part of the Building Code?

11) Please can you confirm whether the independent experts and surveyors have been provided with and will make comment on the inspected repairs’ compliance with the standards set out in the EQC Act 1993, the applicable Private Insurer Policy standard or Housing New Zealand’s Earthquake repair standards?

12) Have you instructed the inspections to be intrusive or non-intrusive?

13) Is your instruction that the physical surveys are to be completed by the independent technical experts, or will the surveys be completed by different personnel and the independent technical experts are instructed to simply review the surveyor’s results (eg a desktop review)?

14) Who do the independent surveyors and experts work for?

15) What are the names and qualifications of the independent experts and surveyors?

16) What are the independent surveyors and experts qualifications?

17) How many:

a. Surveyors; and
b. Experts

are being used

18) What measures have you taken to ensure the surveyors and technical experts are independent?

19) Is there any other specific official information that you believe needs to be released in relation to your “Survey of Canterbury Repairs” to help the public understand your Survey?

We look forward to acknowledgement of this request and the supply of the specific official information requested in 20 working days of your receipt of this request.

Kind Regards:

Canterbury Claimants

ENDS

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